Pharmacovigilance in Psychiatry

Edoardo Spina is Professor of Pharmacology at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Messina, Italy. He is currently Head of the School of Specialisation in Pharmacology, co-ordinator of the PhD Course in Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychopharmacology and President of the Ethics Committee of the district area of Messina. His primary area of scientific interest is clinical neuropsychopharmacology, and has been involved in studies on the pharmacokinetics and drug interactions of CNS drugs, therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepidemiology of psychotropic drugs, and pharmacogenetics in psychiatry. Prof. Spina has authored 220 articles in international journals, 1 book and 22 chapters in scientific books. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Th erapeutics (EACPT) since 2011. He is also Associate Editor of Frontiers in Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics and a member of the editorial board of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology. Gianluca Trifirò is Assistant Professor at the University of Messina and is honorary assistant professor at the Erasmus University Medical Center. In recent years, his main research activities have been concernedwith the scientific coordination and management of multicentre, international projects (i.e. EU-ADR, ARITMO, Aritmo, SUCRE, SAFEGUARD, MPI-AGE) aimed at assessing post-marketing drug use and safety using multiple European electronic medical record databases. As well as authoring more than 100 scientific peer-reviewed scientific publications in international journals, he is a member of editorial boards and reviewer of several international journals in the area of pharmacovigilance and psychiatry. He is a member of the International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) and was co-chair of the ISPE 2011 mid-year meeting. He is also member of the Scientific Secretariat of the Pharmacovigilance Office of the Italian Drug Agency and external consultant of the Italian College of General Practitioners for the conduct of pharmacoepidemiology studies using the GP nationwide database.

1. Introduction: History of pharmacovigilance in psychiatry.- 2. Adverse drug reactions: definition and pathogenesis.- 3. Methodologies for pharmacovigilance monitoring of psychotropic drugs.- 4. The role of prescription event monitoring in pharmacovigilance of psychotropic drugs.- 5. The role of healthcare databases in pharmacovigilance of psychotropic drugs.- 6. Monitoring of plasma concentrations of psychotropic drugs in pharmacovigilance.- 7. The role of pharmacogenetics in pharmacovigilance of psychotropic drugs.- 8. Safety and tolerability of antidepressants.- 9. Safety and tolerability of antipsychotics.- 10. Safety and tolerability of anxiolytics/sedative hypnotics.- 11. Safety and tolerability of mood stabilizers.- 12. Safety and tolerability of medications for ADHD.- 13. Safety of psychotropic drugs in children and adolescents.- 14. Safety of psychotropic drugs in the elderly(Safety of psychotropic drugs in the elderly.- 15. Safety of psychotropic drugs in pregnancy and breastfeeding.

lt;p>"Book explains pharmacovigilance and its importance in the field of psychiatry. ... I have read other books that review side effects of medications, but this is truly the first of its kind as it not only reviews the potential side effects of psychotropic medications, but also illustrates why this topic is so important, how to improve pharmacovigilance in order to reduce side effects of psychotropic medications, and what future potential improvements can be made if proper pharmacovigilance methods are followed." (Aaron Plattner, Doody's Book Reviews, May, 2016)